Snack Time! No Time Like the Present to Try Homemade, Fresh and Healthy Snacks

Snacks, nibbles, kibbles, tidbits, morsels. Call them what you will, but more than anything else, snacks are a consistently delightful and always portable comfort food.

During normal times, snacks serve as on-the-go treats between meals. When times aren’t normal, and with healthy living moving higher to the top of everyone’s menu, snacks take on an even more important role—especially when you’re stuck at home.

Fortunately, West Villages provides the perfect setting for staying put—and trying these:

Snacks should be simple, with ingredients readily available. The Marketplace at West Villages, virtually around the corner from the multi-award-winning community’s nine stunning and distinctive neighborhoods, boasts a Publix offering curbside pickup. Detwiler’s Farm Market , in nearby Venice , is among many fully stocked fresh-fruit-and-veggie (and everything else you need) family run market.

 

Here are a few ideas to snack your way to stay-at-home comfort:

Pantry: Start with what you have. Aside from decluttering, clearing out the kitchen cupboard helps make making simple snacks even simpler. The go-to item is the mighty garbanzo bean; you’re bound to have a can or two. Here’s a recipe for roasted chickpeas, or you can puree garbanzos for hummus or make falafels with dried ground chickpeas.

Citrus: Florida’s most famous crop includes oranges, Key limes and grapefruit. Try the super-easy candied grapefruit peel: a few minutes to prepare, plus a two- to four-hour drying time—easy enough to do in the Sunshine State. Add some ground ginger for a snap.

Homemade: From seafood to locally grown goodness, ingredients are close by, thanks to West Villages’ ideal location. Then turn snack-making into family fun—crafts kids will eat.

• Gather the kids to stir up some homemade trail mix: raisins, dried cranberries or other dried fruits, nuts, seeds, coconut slivers and even chocolate chips.
• Kale chips. Cooked or raw, the vegetable (a word children translate to “eww”) may be an acquired taste, but baked, crispy kale chips are nutrition-packed crunchies.
• Salsa: In addition to citrus, sun-ripe tomatoes are a major Florida crop. Considerably less expensive than store-bought, fresh salsa is fun and easy to make. Also, adjust the spicy-heat level with Florida’s wide variety of peppers, also sun-loving plants.
• Sure, gator bites are a favorite and ubiquitous Florida snack, but peel-and-eat shrimp are healthier and easier to prepare. Here’s a Gulf Coast-inspired recipe.

Living Life Your Way, just the way life should be at West Villages, can be a challenge at the moment, but West Villages is standing by, monitoring life as we know it. To learn more about West Villages, call the Home Buyers Information Line at 941-960-780